My favorite recent project is seen here, lounging on an old family rocking chair, memories on top of memories.
And I didn’t plan this, but I see a painting of the old family homeplace this chair came from leaning on the wall in the background of this shot.
Memories on memories in front of memories.
It may be one of my favorite projects ever, and it was very easy and very fast.
I took a bunch of my children’s old dresses they had outgrown, outworn, and outloved. They were too far gone for donation, with a hole here and there, a bleach stain, a stain stain, but I couldn’t bear to throw them out. Too many photos of them wearing these fabrics. Too soft with washing and playing.
Too many memories ached into the weave.
For a pattern, I cut out a square of cardboard the size of the biggest pieces of the fronts and backs of the dresses below the yokes, which allowed me to salvage two squares from each little dress.
I spread them out so no matching squares touched and it looked right, sewed them together in rows, and sewed the rows together.
After that, I cut a piece of flannel the size of the big rectangle of patchwork and sewed them right sides together all around the edges, leaving several inches for turning.
After turning right side out, I sewed all around close to the edge and again across the seams to “quilt” it.
It’s rather wabi-sabi, but I love it every time I see it, and the kids like it, too. They especially like that I included a couple of pockets.
Pockets are a love that starts in early childhood and continues life long, I think.
Can I hear it for pockets?
and soft, worn, dresses?
I love the throw. I can feel how soft it is from here.
Well I hit submit before I was done! I wanted to say yeah for pockets. Especially dresses with pockets, the best.
Boone question, did you mean “wrong sides together” or should it be “right sides together”?
Sue–Thank you, and thanks for catching that. I always do that! I’ll go fix it.
Love it!
Thanks, Kathy!
Never feel sad for handing things off to the good will or folks like that. There is still an industry called “the rag trade”. The clothes are repurposed and re spun into fiber and re woven into many things. They show up at the home and paint shops in plastic bundles. Some are reused in clothing and must be labeled as such. That is why it states on the tag “virgin wool” as it is fresh from the sheep not recycled.
Sallie–I just saw a documentary about that. It was really interesting.
My kids are growing so fast and I can feel the memories slipping away before I have a chance to keep them. This is such a beautiful idea and even though I’m not great at sewing I might be able to pull it off. Pockets are awesome!
Ginny–Exactly. And so much.